


It doesn't have to be like this (but I kind of want it to)

by super_heroine_addict



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Everything is Different, F/M, Howling commandos are part of shield, Steve and bucky are born in modern times, WinterPrincess Week 2019, basically everyone who was team cap is a howling commando, but they're not really important in this story, enemies to lovers AU, winterprincess au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 03:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19985158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/super_heroine_addict/pseuds/super_heroine_addict
Summary: For winterprincess week 2019, Day 4 Prompt: Enemies to Lovers AUBucky is a good agent, a loyal soldier. Since dismantling HYDRA, he and the rest of the Howling Commandos go where SHIELD needs them. But when one of their missions lands Bucky in a Wakandan prison, he's starting to reconsider.Shuri does what she can to aid Wakanda, including interrogating enemy hostiles. But it doesn't take her long to realize Bucky isn't the threat to Wakanda they feared he would be.They're both way to smart to fall for the enemy. But surely, definitely, just talking won't hurt?





	It doesn't have to be like this (but I kind of want it to)

**Author's Note:**

> I honest to god did not mean for this to happen. I just wanted to do my daily hour of writing. Instead I spent around 5 hours and a lot of brain power on what was supposed to be a tiny one shot but now rivals several academic papers I've written. 2 hrs behind schedule but here's my submission for Day 4 of winterprincess week 2019. Prompt: Enemies to Lovers AU
> 
> It's so AU I don't even know what's happening. I'm actually really into this modern Howling Commando thing though.

Enemies to Lovers AU: Winterprincess Week Day 4

The United States Military had been crazy to send soldiers into Wakanda. Even their elite Captain America, who’d never failed in a mission. Well- never failed in a mission so far. Tensions had been rising between the two countries for the last few years, ever since America learned there was a ‘potential’ source of vibranium under the mountains of Wakanda. But the rest of the world, Wakanda had no intention of being duped into allowing America access into their borders and to their resources. When America realized Wakanda wasn’t just some third world country that would be ever so grateful for American aid, she turned next to what she knew best- war.

Okay, so they weren’t actually at war. But Shuri was smart enough to know where there was soldiers, there was a fight brewing on the horizon. A fight she didn’t want anywhere near her peaceful country. Which is why she sat on the other side of a jail cell, distastefully studying the prisoner they’d brought in.

“Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, part of the 107thInfantry Regiment. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 10th, 1993. Sniper, with at least a dozen confirmed kills. You’re team has spent the last few years dismantling HYDRA facilities and taking out remaining Nazis. So tell me, Sergeant Barnes,” Shuri lowered the tablet she was reading from and looked the man straight in the eye, “Why are you bothering Wakanda?”

Barnes stood with his arms crossed in the center of his cell, staring right back at her. He was by far the dirtiest thing there. The cells of the prisoner were kept sparkling clean and sterile. Barnes on the other hand was caked in mud and sweat, along with dried blood from a few minor injuries. He showed some bruises and scrapes but nothing serious. His posture rigid, his stare dark- he said nothing.

Shuri sighed, and looked at the guards on either side of her. The two Dora Milaje mimicked the soldier’s stance. She could already tell this was going to take a while. So instead of focusing on the first issue, she zeroed in on the one she’d been curious about.

“What happened to your arm?” she nodded at the metal plated appendage on his left. It was silver except for the Captain America logo painted below the shoulder.

Finally, the soldier reacted, quirking his eyebrows slightly. “What, it doesn’t tell you in that file you found on me?”

“Just that you lost your arm in service to your country on a classified mission.”

“You hacked the US government.” Barnes observed.

“Your government is easy to hack.” Shuri told him bluntly.

Barnes may have actually smiled, but it was so small a motion she couldn’t tell. He rolled his left shoulder back, holding up the arm for her to observe. “Fell off a train in Austria.” He told her. “Arm was ripped off on impact.”

“Was that one of your team’s efforts to take down HYDRA?”

“We were bringing in Armin Zola himself.”

“The workmanship is shoddy.”

“Excuse me?” Bucky said, genuinely caught off guard and just maybe offended. Good, Shuri thought.

“Your arm.” Shuri clarified. “That model won’t last more than a few years, it’s not nearly sophisticated enough to serve more than a few basic functions, I’m guessing the wiring needs consistent replacing and fixing, and even from here I can tell you don’t get full range of motion.” She listed just a few of the problems she saw with the arm. She could build a better one in a day. Hell, give her a week and she could design and build the perfect upgrade.

Her mind was halfway through the schematics when she remembered to tap down the need to improve, and create. This was an enemy soldier, not someone who needed her help.

“The best scientists in America built this arm.” He told her. Oh yeah, he was definitely offended.

“I pity American science if that’s the best they can do.” Shuri told him.

“I’d like to see you do better.”

“Believe me, I could.” Shuri promised.

Now Barnes definitely smiled. It was a dangerous look. Despite the fact he was in the cell and she was keeping him there, he looked at her like a wolf that had caught sight of its prey. Like all he wanted to do was dig his claws under her skin. It was dangerous and sexy and errant and promising all at the same time. Shuri bit down on her lip. She should not be eyeing the attempted colonizer.

“And I thought Wakanda would be another country stuck in the last century. Instead it’s got technology that would make a Stark cry and a princess that would too.” Bucky said. Wait, was he _teasing_ her?

Shuri allowed herself a small smile. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ayo tensing. It’s okay, she thought. We’re just talking. I’m establishing myself with the enemy. Building trust so he talks to me. At least that’s what she told herself.

“Wakanda has many wonders, Sergeant Barnes. You can understand why it makes us protective.”

“Secretive is the word I’d use” he told her.

“But not threatening. All the records we have show you and the Howling Commandos have done good work taking out HYDRA, rescuing POWS, shutting down the human experiments in Sokovia; all those good deeds, and yet you come armed and uninvited into a country that just wants to be left alone. That doesn’t add up to me.” Shuri stated.

It was true, that even in Wakanda they knew about the Howling Commandos, America’s elite combat unit led by the super-soldier Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. A SHIELD scientist had developed the serum that turned Captain Rogers into the perfect warrior, but had been assassinated just afterwards by HYDRA. In order to avenge him, Steve Rogers had organized the Howling Commandos with the intention of taking HYDRA down once and for all. James Barnes had been there since the beginning; Steve Roger’s oldest and closest friend.

“I’m a soldier, princess. I go where my country sends me.” Bucky’s tone indicated she hadn’t gotten him to spill; he’d merely decided to let her know.

“So you don’t even know why your government sent you here?” Shuri pushed, but Barnes didn’t answer. “If I were you, Sergeant Barnes, I’d be a little more helpful. Your team has retreated back across the border, and they won’t get in again. If you want to go home, you need to tell me what the Americans want.”

“I’ve been taken prisoner before, Princess. Trust me, they’ll come for me.”

Sensing she was getting no further today, Shuri stood up to leave, but not before turning over her shoulder to say, “You should settle in, Sergeant Barnes. You’ll be here for a while.”

* * *

A while turned into a week, which turned into a month, which in turn started to drive Bucky insane. He often found himself mentally berating Steve and the rest of the Commandos, thinking he was ready to be rescued whenever they would hurry up and get here. Of course he knew it wasn’t really their fault. Steve would never leave him to rot, which means the princess had meant what she said about them not finding another way into the country. Either that or SHIELD had pulled them back. Fucking government bureaucracy.

At least he couldn’t really complain about the accommodations. Wakandan prisoners were nicer than some motels he’d stayed in back home. He’d been able to shower and given clean clothes every day. Even the food was insanely good. The only problem, besides being a prisoner, was he was _bored_. There was nothing to do except stare at the ceiling all day. He was so sick of being left with his own thoughts, he looked forward to his daily visits from the princess.

To be fair, he probably would have looked forward to those anyway. The young princess of Wakanda had made very few public appearances with her brother when he emerged to address the world. The few pictures and minimal information on her did nothing to convey how beautiful she was in real life, or how clever.

She’d asked a decent question- why had they come to Wakanda? Truthfully the mission hadn’t sat right with any of them, but since they had finally dismantled HYDRA, SHIELD and the higher-ups had been eager to put the Howling Commandos on other missions, ones where regular Ops teams were likely to fail but where their elite soldiers would succeed. They’d been tasked to come scout the areas where there was thought to be possible sources of vibranium. The number of doubts in that sentence alone should have convinced them not to do it. But they were good soldiers, loyal agents. So they’d taken the assignment and gotten ambushed by border guards for their trouble.

Of course one thing Bucky knew now is that Wakanda did have vibranium, and lots of it. He could see the city from the small window of his cell, and even the tech he could see within the prison was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Stuff that Howard or his wayward son Tony Stark could never dream up was operating commonplace in the city. It was brilliant.

And it didn’t take him long to realize who was behind the brilliant inventions. Shuri had schooled him enough times in their conversations he quickly put together a picture of just how smart she was. And she was. Like could probably teach Stark or Banner a few things smart.

And damn if she wasn’t nice to look at too.

Bucky blamed his irrational feelings of the boredom. Of course he’d be attracted to the one person who made his day any interesting. If she happened the beautiful, charming, bright, incredibly intelligent princess of the nation currently holding him captive, so be it.

Fuck. Bucky hoped Steve would get here soon.

* * *

Shuri knew after a few weeks that Barnes had told them all he would without resorting to more extreme interrogation tactics. And frankly, Shuri had no desire to do so. It was clear to her Barnes wasn’t some radical or extremist. He wasn’t driven by greed and power like Klaue had been. He wasn’t trying to kill anyone. What he’d said that first day was true- he was a soldier, and he went where his country told him. Shuri could sense he was regretting that decision.

It wasn’t Wakandan policy to reach out to other nations, which means they had to wait for the American government to open discussion to get Sergeant Barnes back, which they had yet to do, probably because they didn’t want to admit they’d sent agents their in the first place. But a quick hack into SHIELD communications told her the rest of the Howling Commandos weren’t happy about the wait, and that a much more likely course of action would be their return for their comrade.

It was a messy situation that didn’t come with a simple answer. Shuri found herself spending more time at her daily meetings with Sergeant Barnes in an attempt to understand him and his team. She didn’t even bother bringing Dora Milaje anymore.

“You seem to have a lot of faith in your team, Sergeant Barnes, even after all this time. What makes you so certain they’ll come for you?” she asked one day.

“I’ve been with them for a long time. I’ve got their backs and they got mine.” Barnes said while leaning against his cot. He didn’t seem to mind talking to her about these things. “When you go through the kind of things we have, it forms a bond of trust that nothing breaks.”

“You mean your missions together?”

“Some of them. But it’s other stuff too. Nat’s got a past she’s not proud of. Barton’s got secrets he doesn’t want anyone to know. But we know. All of it, everything there is to know about another person. Because when you’re out risking your neck and trusting someone else with your life, you realize you can trust them with anything.” He told her seriously. He got a faraway look in his eyes, and Shuri actually pitied him. At the same tie, she envied him.

“I can’t imagine having that kind of bond with someone.” She admitted.

That brought his focus back to her. “Don’t you have people you trust?”

Shuri crossed her arms. “Of course.” She said. Then, “I mean, I trust a lot of people. I trust the Dora Milaje to protect me because it’s their sworn duty. I trust my assistants to do their job, though maybe not with my life. I trust my brother completely. But he’s so busy being king these days he hardly has time to see me.”

Barnes leaned forward. “But what about friends?” he pried. Shuri wasn’t unaware of how their positions had reversed, and he’d become the interrogator. But she only shrugged.

“I don’t have a lot of friends.” She admitted, eyes drifting away from him. “Most of the time I’m too busy, and even when I’m not there aren’t a lot of people who are willing to be themselves around a princess.”

When he didn’t respond she looked back at him, only to find him staring intensely at her. The look made her breath hitch. It made her feel like he was seeing straight through her. It made her nervous. It made her excited.

“I can’t imagine how anyone wouldn’t want to be around you, princess.” He said finally.

Shuri felt her face turn red and knew she had to get out of there before she said something she’d regret. Hastily she stood up from her chair.

“I have to be getting on.” She explained. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sergeant Barnes.”

“Bucky.” He called as she turned to go, stopping her in her tracks. She turned back to face him.

“Pardon?” she asked.

“Call me Bucky.”

She was definitely blushing, but she nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bucky.”

* * *

Shuri stared at a holographic schematic for 20 minutes before realizing she hadn’t made a single effort to work on it. She looked around, checking to be sure her lab was empty. Seeing it was, she dropped her head into her hands and groaned.

This could not be real. She could not be crushing on a foreign agent. That was currently in her prison. An American foreign agent who was in her prison for attempting to invade her country.

T’Challa was going to kill her.

Except… it wasn’t that crazy, was it? He was just a patriot, doing what his country said. If T’Challa asked her to do something for the good of Wakanda, no matter how immoral it may seem, wouldn’t she still do it?

And Sergeant Barnes…Bucky… had been so real with her. She new she wasn’t an expert on everything; that a lifetime of an overprotective family and burying herself in her work had left her naïve about relationships and men, but this didn’t feel like manipulation. It didn’t feel like he was playing with her emotions. It’d been six weeks and he hadn’t once tried to convince her to free him, just continued resolutely believing his team would come for him. And the way he’d looked at her… maybe she wasn’t crazy after all.

Or maybe she’d really spent too much time alone in her lab and now was falling for the first person to pay attention to her all because he was dark and mysterious and incredibly handsome.

Yeah, T’Challa was definitely going to kill her.

* * *

It was in the middle of their daily ‘interrogation’ when his arm fritzed out. Bucky felt the spark feedback into his shoulder, causing him to yell in pain and jump up mid-sentence, wrestling the thing off him. He twisted and pulled at the shoulder joint, cussing the whole time with words that would have gotten his mouth washed with soap if his mom had heard them.

He had just gotten it detached when it was taken out of his hands. Looking up he found Shuri standing right beside him, carefully examining the metal appendage.

“It’s supposed to get weekly maintenance to keep that from happening.” He explained. “They circuitry is super complicated, in order to let me have as much motion as possible. Problem is there are so many parts the electric currents can move too fast, which overheats the system and blows out the electrodes reading my muscle movements.”

Shuri was examining the smoking end of the limb with such inquisitiveness he had a bad feeling his arm was about to dismantled and studied. What she said still surprised him though.

“I can fix it for you.”

“What?”

“The electrodes. It’s an easy replacement. I can open it up and see if I can do anything about the circuitry too, if you’d like.” She looked up at him with a gaze so full of hopeful eagerness, Bucky immediately knew this was what she lived for. Developing technology. Taking things and making them better. Finding ways to constantly improve in order to help others.

“Have at it.” He told her.

She left at once to run back to her lab, arm in hand. It wasn’t until after she’d gone that Bucky realized what had just happened. She’d stepped inside the cell with him. Of course he knew the barrier keeping him locked up was a special force field designed with his specific DNA so he couldn’t pass through. The people tasked with bring him food and necessities were always able to come in by simply walking through. But Shuri had just _walked in._ She hadn’t hesitated to come help him. She hadn’t been afraid to enter the cell with him. That alone made him unbelievable, unreasonably happy.

Fuck, he needed Steve to save him soon before he did something stupid like fall in love with the Princess of Wakanda.

* * *

Shuri stared at her screen, the faint glow illuminating the otherwise dark room. Her bedroom computer wasn’t used for much besides personal entertainment and correspondence, and jotting down the basics of an idea when she had one at random in the middle of the night before falling back asleep. But the notification ping was set to loud and she’d been sleeping lightly anyway, so she found herself staring back at an email at 2 am while the rest of the country was asleep. She almost couldn’t believe what she read. Almost. Her faith in technology held her over.

Steve Rogers had replied to her email.

T’Challa’s decision to open Wakanda to the rest of the world had been a huge surprise to them all, but completely out of the blue. With superheroes appearing all over the world, aliens showing up, calls for the Earth to band together, now was the perfect time for Wakanda to come out of the shadows. And sure, the Howling Commandos attempted infiltration wasn’t the most important thing on his mind, but he was smart enough to know he wanted to be in control of entering their borders, and that one attempt was likely indicative of more.

It would be a big process, so T’Challa had been ready to put everyone to work on what would he hoped would be an open cultural and scientific exchange. Before he could disappear into the project though, Shuri had been sure to catch up with her brother and put in her suggestion to return Bucky to his home. Surprisingly, she hadn’t needed to push at all.

“I agree it would be best to return Sergeant Barnes before we go public. We want America to know they trust us. He can act as an olive branch. See him returned but do it quietly; I don’t want the whole world knowing we’ve held an American hero prisoner for the past several weeks.” He’d instructed her. Shuri had quickly found Captain America’s personal contact information and sent a short message explaining the situation. And only several hours later, here was his reply, wary but still willing to do whatever it took to get Bucky back. For a minute she was almost tempted to hold off on the reply. Replying meant action, and action meant Bucky would leave, and she’d be back to having no one to talk to.

She shook the selfish thought off as soon as she had it. Bucky was a good man. He deserved to make it home.

* * *

Bucky was dozing when the sudden sound of footsteps rose him. He pushed himself up on his good arm instinctively, only to find Shuri and two Dora Milaje arriving at his cell.

“What’s going on, Princess?” he asked.

“It’s time to go.” She said simply, pressing a button to disable to barrier. The wall disappeared.

“Go, go where?” Bucky asked, still confused. Surely this wasn’t an attempt to spring him. Even if Shuri had gotten it into her head to commit treason, the Dora Milaje would never.

Shuri smiled then, and it was so bright and adorable he suddenly decided he didn’t care if this was a rescue op or a dead man’s walk. Fortunately he didn’t have to worry about that.

“On your feet, soldier.” Shuri ordered. “Captain America’s come to get you.”

* * *

Shuri joined Bucky in the back of a truck while the Dora Milaje rode up front. The two sat on either side facing each other, with another bench across the front. In the advanced Wakandan car, it would be a short journey to neighboring Kenya. The meeting point Shuri had given Captain Rogers was only a couple miles from the border. Close enough to get there quickly and far enough that they shouldn’t have to fly to close to Wakandan airspace.

The ride felt unnaturally quiet. They both buzzed with a nervous, excited energy, but neither new exactly what to say to one another. Finally, Shuri saw an opening when she caught Bucky looking at the case by her feet.

“Here,” she said, picking up the case and placing it on the seat between them. She opened it and sat back, giving Bucky the chance to examine its contents, “this is for you.”

He leaned forward, studying the prosthetic arm with care. He picked it up with good hand, seemingly surprised at the lightweight.

“This isn’t the arm I gave you, Princess.” He observed. Shuri chuckled.

“No the one you had before was…embarrassing. I really did mean to fix it, but I got so caught up in improvements it was easier to just start fresh.” She took the arm from him and held it up to point out some of the finer details. “It’s made of vibranium.” She said. “I thought Captain America didn’t deserve to be the only one with a cool vibranium weapon.”

“Technically, Steve’s shield is not a weapon.” Bucky pointed out. Shuri chuckled again.

“It’s completely myoelectric, and I’ve designed the sensors so that they can pick up on even micro-movements. It has full range of motion. You’ll be able to everything you could with your real arm. Except this one is ten times stronger, unbreakable, and completely detachable.”

Shuri’s face glowed as she described the invention. Bucky couldn’t even focus on the arm- he was completely taken by her smile.

“Oh, and I want to show the best part. Put it on.” Bucky took the arm, and with a little help from Shuri quickly figured out how to latch it into place. He felt a faint buzz in his shoulder at first as the electrodes adjusted, and found Shuri was right. He had full control over his new limb. Amazed, he rolled his shoulder, curled his fingers, twisted his arm. The arm worked perfectly.

“Princess,” he started to say but stopped when he found her kneeling in front of him. She caught his new arm by the wrist and held it palm up.

“I want to show the best part.” She said, and ran a finger down his palm. Bucky shuttered at the tingle it sent up his arm, then gasped and stared in amazement.

“I noticed your last arm didn’t have an sensory indicators. Functional, but it didn’t really let you feel anything. So I made sure you’d be able to feel anything you touched with this one.” She punctuated her point by tracing her finger over it again. “Feel that?”

“I do.” Bucky answered, still staring at the incredible girl in front of him. She looked nervous, focusing on his open palm instead of his face.

Not totally sure what he was doing, Bucky pulled back his arm and Shuri with it, pulling her up to sit on the seat next to him. They sat turned to face each other, neither saying anything for a minute. But unlike the silence from before, this didn’t feel unnatural. This felt expectant.

“Can I ask you a question, Bucky?” Shuri said softly.

“Ask me anything, Princess.”

“You said you lost your arm in a fall. But I did the math and the physics that would cause an arm to be ripped from the body…would kill you instantly. How’s that possible?”

Bucky sighed. Shuri was afraid she’d pried too far, but he answered before she could take it back.

“Do you remember the day we first met, and I told you I’d been taken prisoner before?” Shuri nodded. “That experience wasn’t nearly as pleasant as this one. Zola’s boss, Johann Schmidt, was obsessively trying to recreate the super soldier serum that gave Steve his powers. He used prisoners as test subjects. He injected us with something. Not the super soldier serum but something close, that gave me the strength to survive the fall.”

Shuri’s face twisted in horror. “He experimented on you.”

“Horrible as it was, I’m grateful it happened. If it hadn’t I’d be dead.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“Don’t be. You know, you’re the first scientist I’ve liked since then? The rest of them give me anxiety but you, I know you’re never gonna use your inventions for evil. It means a lot to me knowing you can be so good.”

Shuri’s breath hitched. In the dark truck bed, they leaned closer, until there was only a hairbreadth of space between them. Which is exactly when the ride jerked to a stop.

“Your Highness,” one of the Dora called from the front. “We’re here.”

“As is Captain Rogers.” The other said.

The two pulled apart, all at once relieved and devastated to have missed the moment. Standing, Shuri pushed open the back to reveal a SHIELD quinjet waiting in the plain. Standing by the entry ramp, looking impressive, imposing, and incredibly patriotic was the one and only Captain America. Several people stood waiting on the ramp behind him, all anxiously watching the truck. These were the Howling Commandos Bucky had talked about. The friends he trusted so much.

“Looks like they’re waiting for you.” She told Bucky.

“Yeah.” He replied. “Looks like it.”

She stepped back to allow him to hop out of the truck. Immediately faces of the waiting soldiers lit up, relief and excitement flooding their features. Shuri new she should let Bucky go to them, so she didn’t say anything. But her heart leapt when he turned around to address her one last time.

“Thank you, Princess, for everything.” He took her hand delicately in his. “Maybe if Wakanda really does open to the rest of the world, I’ll get the chance to see you again.” He pressed a gentle, gentlemanly kiss on her knuckles. Never breaking eye contact while doing so.

Just as he turned to leave, Shuri tightened her grip and said, “Shuri.”

Bucky turned around, brow quirked. “What?”

“You can call me Shuri.” She said, and then before she had time to think too much, she leaned out of the trucked and kissed him. Their lips met and she swore there were sparks as she kissed him soft but firmly. It lasted only a second and was over all too soon.

“For the next time we see each other.” She explained, pulling herself back into the truck. Then Bucky smiled, wide and happy this time, with promises of laughter and kisses. It was just as sexy as that first, dark smile had been all those weeks ago.

“I’ll hold you to that, Shuri.”


End file.
